I listened to the show with Nico&Bennet yesterday evening to know what to expect (nothing wild). They talk about Malisse's statement at a time and the journalist asks Bennet to comment on it (I was like "Not Benneteau! Ask Nico!")
But Julien's reaction is OK, he means that the "awful" comment is wrong. That said, he agrees with the last part and with Seb last time (that seeing Gilles in the top 10 is a big motivation for everybody else). But that's fine, Gilles himself says it. Nico doesn't comment, I think.
There are a few jokes about Gilles' game (like he's a nice guy, but they shouldn't schedule his matches to start at 11pm because people wake up in the middle of the nightly replay of "The Wild Wild West" then, etc. ).

Did he hesitate to got there?
- People don't follow the other event during the off-season (the Interclubs, a team event) although there are good matches there too [I do follow it!] So the idea was to have another event and they had committed to play. It's only natural to play then since he's available. Of course, it's too bad not all the best players will be there.

Won't it be detrimental to his preparation since he has such a short off-season?
- He had two weeks of condition training and playing matches won't prevent him from working on his game. He should be able to play a 2 sets match every day! If he hadn't played in Toulouse, he would have practiced 2 hours every morning in RG and in the afternoon they would have played mini-matches with Jo anyway and they do try to win the points then.

What's the point of this kind of exhibition?
- The idea is to have points of reference and try out things he couldn't try in other tournaments. He knows he'll have to be more aggressive in 2009 because it's important to start winning in straight sets against players he's supposed to beat. He needs to do it right from the beginning of the match. This kind of things are easier to put into practice in Toulouse. He will "exaggerate" it when he has an opportunity... but he won't play S&V on every point either! There is no point in turning his game upside down.

http://www.fft.fr/action/masters-france/?ID=4467
6-4 6-3 in 1:12, it says the start was a bit rough with 3 DF of Gilles in his first service game, but the match was quite spectacular then, he came back from 2-4 down and won 7 games in a row, playing some nice volleys in the process and as solid as usual from the baseline. He saved the 2 BP in the last service game with 2 nice winners and closed it out with another service winner.

And the "match suspended" on the scoreboard was actually just a toilet break taken by Gicquel after having lost 7 games in a row!

His audio interview:http://www.fft.fr/action/masters-france/?id=4443
He means he played a very good match. As for the 3 DF at the beginning, the service is one of the things he's working on atm, so he knows he will make some DF, he has to accept it. Same for the netgame.
He had played only 2 sets in practice before the match, so he did "very, very well" under those conditions.
The journalist notices he played especially some "sneak approaches" today. He means it's indeed the kind of things he's trying to add to his game to have more weapons in the future. He probably played more of these shots today than he will in real matches because he needs to get used to them.
People say he has nothing to win playing in Toulouse, but that's not how he sees it. He's at a point of his preparation where he needs to start playing points anyway. "As for the result, we'll see".
The date of the Masters France is fine, the only problem is that they both played the Masters Cup with Jo. But he supports the idea of the event, they both had committed to it at the beginning of the year already, that's why Jo came extra for the clinic with the kids yesterday.

He picked up the racquet again only 10 days ago and Tulasne clearly says that "he isn't ready". They're making some changes to his serve in particular, he's really just in the middle of his preparation.

He picked up the racquet again only 10 days ago and Tulasne clearly says that "he isn't ready". They're making some changes to his serve in particular, he's really just in the middle of his preparation.

He plays against Ouanna at 7pm again today.

After my tennis training tonight, I was able to watch Gilles's match on Sport+ (they have the channel in my club's lobby). I only saw the second set though.
Gilles didn't play as good as he would against top players, and yet he would still be very serene, except when he was serving for the match, quite typical though.. leading 5-3, letting Ouanna leveling at 5-5 all. Plus Ouanna had a wonderful opportunity to lead 6-5, he just had to push a ball, an yet he missed it.. Gilles was lucky on that one.

I heard Gilles speak on 'Agathe's mike' (I like this Agathe, she's a good interviewer for Sport+, have you heard her ?? Fran, Natsu, Soulage?).
He said that it was not an easy match (I'm sure he meant "not as easy as I expected"). He talked about his double fault at 5-4 (was it 5-4, not sure now). He said a photographer took a picture of him at that very moment, and it really disturbed him. He was angry and had to cope with a whole lot of bad emotions. However, he tried to think positive. He said that it was good that he had to face this kind of incident on court, before 2009.. He said all the matches are the same : you have to win them no matter what.

Then Agathe talked about the semis against Benneteau and Gilles didn't look so thrilled. He said that he expeced a tough match, but that it was handable (à sa portée, je ne sais pas comment le traduire). I'm sure there will be a lot going on on the court tomorrow.

Thanks! The summary on the FFT website also mentions he was pissed. They say it was the same in the first set, he was looking in control, got nervous when serving for the set and it sounds like he was quite lucky to take the first set then (Josse had a mini-break and then a SP in the TB).

He means he was playing well, but lost his concentration in both sets when serving for the set.
He was also nicely surprised by Josse, he knows Josse can play very well since they've been training together for years and Josse always gives him a hard time in training, but he usually has trouble showing it in matches then, unlike today.

Coming to Toulouse he gives the others four chances to "shoot him down". But that's not how he takes it. He's confident in his tennis.
He played a lot of winners today, wasn't very good at the net, but served well, 15 aces is unusual for him.
He was upset at the end of the first set and that was his biggest problem today, he wasn't able to get over it.

Apparently he was hitting his FH well because he's asked about it and explains he has always had a very fast FH, but he isn't always able to show it in big matches, like at the end of the year, when he's too tense. But he tries to go for his shots on the FH wing in Toulouse because he loves that feeling: "when I hit one, I'm in a good mood for the next 2 games".